Everyone Spends Money to Make Me Debut as Center (GL) - Chapter 18
“Just a few quick words. It won’t take up too much time,” Bai Chang replied.
“You can just say it here,” Chi Ling said, lifting her eyes to glance at her. “It won’t be long, anyway.”
Shouldn’t Bai Chang be avoiding me like the plague? The fact that she’s looking to talk to me now probably has something to do with the conversation between her and Wei Xike that we overheard yesterday.
If that was the reason, Chi Ling really wasn’t in the mood to talk to her.
Seeing that Chi Ling was unwilling to look at her, Bai Chang leaned forward, propping her left hand on the table to block the VJ’s camera and meet Chi Ling’s gaze. “Your mother contacted me. Don’t you want to talk to her?”
The key was that the production team had planned a family phone call segment for next week. It was supposed to be a heartwarming moment between the trainees and their parents, but given the current tense relationship between Chi Ling and Chi Chenghung, it was questionable if the call would even go through.
Chi Ling and Chi Chengzhang were both too proud to be the first to apologize. Neither of them would budge, which was why Tang Haimei was acting as a mediator.
But what concerned Bai Chang more was that countless eyes were now on Chi Ling, eager to dig up dirt on her. Any hint of scandal on the show would be reported on immediately.
“Oh, no, thank you,” Chi Ling said, showing no reaction. She lowered her gaze, her long eyelashes fluttering, and looked at her own hand with a sense of helplessness. “Teacher Bai, can you move your hair off my pudding? I’ve only had three bites.”
Bai Chang was speechless.
She then looked up at the VJ next to her, and the icy coldness in her eyes made the VJ tremble.
Before Bai Chang could even speak, the VJ was quick to say, “I’ll delete this part!”
••••
After-dinner practice time was optional; whether a trainee stayed or not depended entirely on their self-discipline. None of the fifteen trainees in Class A dared to leave. The day’s lessons had shattered most of their confidence, and now everyone was practicing with a fervor.
However, the space was limited, and everyone wanted to be close to the mirrors to adjust their movements, which led to chaos. People would accidentally hit each other’s hands while dancing, and in this tense training environment, a small conflict could instantly ignite a furious argument.
Chi Ling noticed a girl standing in a corner where there was no mirror. She moved her arms a few times and then stood still. Judging by her teary eyes, she was about to burst into tears.
Chi Ling squinted, reading the name on the sticker on the girl’s hip. “Cen Kui? Come here for a second.”
The girl in the corner looked confused but took small steps toward Chi Ling.
“Are you not feeling well, or are you having trouble keeping up?” Chi Ling asked softly.
Cen Kui was half Chinese and half English. Her facial features were as delicate as a doll’s, and her light-colored eyes, now moistened with tears, looked like fragile glass beads. She choked up, trying to speak coherently. “I… I’m not feeling well.”
She wasn’t used to this intense competitive atmosphere. Everyone was working so hard, and the people in Class A were already very skilled. She was a slow learner and needed twice as long as everyone else to memorize lyrics. Now that she had finally finished memorizing the lyrics, she found that everyone else had almost finished learning the dance.
“As long as you’re not feeling well,” Chi Ling said, handing her a tissue. “Wipe your face. Your makeup is starting to run.”
“Okay… thank you,” Cen Kui said, roughly wiping away her tears. The delicate skin around her eyes became red like a rabbit’s from all the rubbing.
“Do you want me to help you with the moves?” Chi Ling offered.
She had also been through this stage and knew that a hot-tempered person would panic and get lost if they fell behind.
This was especially true for someone like Cen Kui, who was originally good. Once her sense of superiority and confidence were gone, she could easily break down if her psychological defenses weren’t strong.
“There’s an empty practice room next door.”
Cen Kui had been so worried about catching up that she hadn’t even thought of practicing in a different room. She couldn’t see her own movements in the mirror and was constantly being distracted by the people in front of her.
She sniffled and said pitifully, “Okay.”
It was still early, and not many people had gone back to their dorms. Chi Ling led Cen Kui all the way to the top floor to find an empty practice room and turned on the lights.
“Okay, there’s no one here now. You can dance freely. It’s okay to make mistakes; no one will laugh at you,” Chi Ling said, standing with Cen Kui in front of the mirror. “Do it once with the music, and I’ll help you with any problems.”
“Okay,” Cen Kui nodded. “But I’ve only practiced the first half.”
“Then just do the first half. Follow my movements for the second half,” Chi Ling smiled. “There’s no rush. Don’t panic.”
“Okay… no rush,” Cen Kui said, taking a deep breath and relaxing.
Chi Ling danced beside her, guiding her through the moves. Whenever Cen Kui forgot a move, she would just look at Chi Ling. In the end, she slowly managed to do the second half as well.
“You actually don’t have many problems. You remember the moves very clearly, but you probably didn’t get them completely right when you were first learning them,” Chi Ling said, raising her arm in the mirror to remind Cen Kui. “Here, you have to keep your arm straight. The moves look better with a bigger range of motion.”
“It’s okay to do it slowly at first, but your moves have to be precise. When you raise your arm, keep it close to your ear,” Chi Ling said, lifting Cen Kui’s arm to her ear before moving on to the next move. “Your sense of rhythm is actually quite good. Try counting in your head at half-speed and dancing to the eight-count.”
Cen Kui had been very unconfident, but after Chi Ling praised her, her face finally brightened up.
She seriously repeated Chi Ling’s movements. “Like this?”
“Yeah,” Chi Ling nodded. “Do it two more times, and then try it with the music again.”
Cen Kui followed Chi Ling and started dancing. As she became more familiar with the moves, she found herself becoming more and more confident, and her body started to feel light.
Chi Ling and Cen Kui practiced together for two hours. After that, Cen Kui went back to the dorm to rest, but Chi Ling stayed behind to continue dancing alone until Su Wanwan came running up, panting. “Mom Chi, why are you here? I’ve been looking for you forever.”
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re asking me?” Su Wanwan looked incredulous. “Sister, it’s already midnight. You’ll take at least an hour to shower, which means it will be one in the morning. I didn’t come to get you last night, and you came back at dawn. I had to come and get you early tonight.”
Chi Ling said, “You go back first. I’ll practice a little longer.”
“You’re going to die of overwork like this! This is only the theme song evaluation. When the public performances start, are you going to spend twenty-four hours a day in the practice room?” Su Wanwan was very stubborn and started to pull on Chi Ling. “If you do this again, I’m telling the boss.”
Chi Ling didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Wanwan, I promise I’ll be back before one in the morning. You go and shower first, okay?”
Su Wanwan held up her finger. “You’re not allowed to lie to me!”
“I won’t lie to you.”
The theme song evaluation required both singing and dancing. So, even if she had mastered the song and the dance separately, it was all for nothing if she couldn’t perform them together.
Singing and dancing at the same time was a test of breath and stamina. Chi Ling could adjust the former with technique, but the difficult part was that the “junk” body of Princess Chi couldn’t be fixed in just one or two months of exercise.
The muscles in her legs and arms were all soft. If her muscle strength wasn’t enough, it would not only be difficult for her to perform a fluid singing and dancing routine but would also prevent her from doing the dance moves with enough grace and beauty.
These problems could only be solved with one method—practice.
This was why Chi Ling, despite getting a good initial evaluation, didn’t dare to relax. She knew her weaknesses all too well, and the only thing she could do now was to make up for them before she showed any flaws in front of the camera. She still remembered that Pang Shiru had said she would be watching her.
The hotel the production team arranged for Bai Chang was very close to the trainee dorms, a less than fifteen-minute walk. So, after filming ended in the afternoon, she wasn’t in a hurry to go back and instead started checking in on each class’s practice situation.
Out of the five classes—A, B, C, D, and F—A and F had the most people left behind. They looked full of vigor. The former were worried about losing their spot and face, while the latter were unwilling to be stuck in the farthest corner during the theme song stage, unable to get even half a second of a close-up shot.
“Wanwan,” Bai Chang said, waving at a sweaty Su Wanwan.
“What is it, boss?”
“Where’s Chi Ling?”
“Oh, Mom Chi went out with Cen Kui,” Su Wanwan said, her eyes shining. “Boss, do you need her for something?”
Chi Ling had just refused to talk to Bai Chang in the afternoon, and now Bai Chang had come looking for her in the practice room at night. There was definitely something going on between them! Su Wanwan’s gossip-loving soul was about to explode!
“No, nothing,” Bai Chang said, her lips curving into a smile. “Don’t practice too late. Your health is the most important thing.”
“Okay!”
Bai Chang finally found her in the unoccupied practice room on the top floor. Before she even got close, she could hear the sound of sneakers rubbing on the floor and Chi Ling’s clear but slightly out-of-breath singing.
To be this tired, she must have been practicing for a long time.
Bai Chang leaned against the doorway, tilting her head to quietly watch Chi Ling through the glass door. She had planned to wait for her to finish a round and take a break before talking to her, but who knew that this person was like a wind-up doll, going on and on without stopping?
In a flash, Bai Chang suddenly remembered the day Chi Ling ran away from home. The slender figure walking alone under the scorching sun had been just as stubborn.
For some reason, it was a little heartbreaking.